Thursday, August 19, 2010

Do you know how many kids you have? Don't laugh, my man Antonio Cromartie of the New York "Pets", doesn't. (My man, FOUR THREE YEAR OLDS? 2006 must have been a very busy year for you.) Seriously....

Let me move on: Who knew that eye glasses would be the new Air Jordans in post racial A-merry-ca.

"DETROIT - He was an accomplished athlete with a promising future, but a gunshot ended it all. A young man was killed while leaving a club in Detroit; gunned down over a pair of glasses.

"Detroit Police say whether they are real or just knock-offs, you can loose your life over Cartier shades.

That was my only son. My baby," said Rose Ford, the victim's mother.

Ford loved her son more than life itself. 20-year-old Darryle Miller, Junior was a Northwestern High School basketball standout turned college star.

Miller was leaving a Detroit nightclub early Sunday morning. That is when Ford says her son was shot in the back. It was over a $2,400 pair of sunglasses that he refused to give up.

Miller had worked to pay for the Cartier shades and the killer took them after pulling the trigger.

"I never thought in a million years... that my brother would be the one to get killed over some glasses," said Latoreya Till, the victim's sister.

"My son worked for whatever he had whether it was his car, glasses, shoes, whatever. He worked for that and I feel you should do it, too. You don't go out and take (somebody's) life for a pair of glasses," Ford said.

"Somebody out there knows this individual who did it," said Detroit Police Deputy Chief James Tolbert.

The murder at Fort and Cass now tops their priority list. They are confident it will not be long before the gunman slips up.

"(He) told somebody or now he's wearing a pair of Cartier glasses or he just recently sold or pawned a pair of Cartier glasses, so he didn't just take them and put them in his pocket," Tolbert said.

While justice may help bring closure, one thing is certain, it will not bring Miller back.

"He has a baby. She adores him, and she can't see her daddy (any) more," said Ford.

Detroit Police also shared a disturbing statistic with us. They say there have been 15 to 20 of these murders over glasses in just the last year.

There are no suspects yet in this case. Call Detroit Police if you have any information. "

Quick, tell me five f*&^%d up things about this story. OK OK, the $2,400 sunglasses is easy. But can you find four more? I know I can.

1. My man is 20 with a child.

2. Why does any murder take priority over another one?

3. WTF was he doing in a club? He is 20 years old.

4. Any why are folks in Detroit clapping each other's chrome over glasses?

148 comments:

That is quite a story. I want to know how a 20 year old could pay $2,400 for a pair of sunglasses. I hope that while he worked for everything he wanted, his baby was taken care of in the same manner. My sunglasses cost $400, but they are prescription and lenses costs more than the frames. That is a lot of money for a pair of glasses. I do understand why he just did not give up the glasses, but he was not thinking his life was worth more than any pair glasses. I agree with you about him being at a club at 20 when he should been with his daughter. It is really unfortunate.

I guess Blacks have put a 'premium' on glasses, and 'discounted' black lives in the process. Wait, I am wrong. Street Pirates kill Blacks for a lot less!

Regarding the last twisted story:

Field, did you know that 'Necrophilia' is on the rise? I learned this little known information from my agents here at Anon, Inc.

It seems that people are stessed out these days, and are looking for ways to express themselves in ways that make them feel more 'alive'.

Have you considered buying a pair of necrophiliac chasing shoes to go with your racism track shoes? You could easily 'double' your catch-rate.

Don't worry, according to my agents Blacks don't rape dead bodies. This is a 'White' thing. So the only folks you are going to catch are White. No need to thank me. I already know that you are grateful.

this story hurt my soul on a lot of levels but wait a minute yall u dont know if he was a bad father and 20 year olds need to have fun too! they have 18 and over clubs from his mothers description he was a pretty responsible and assertive person eyem sure he was a good father to his child but even deeper its sad that ni*** is so faulty that theyde kill for a material itemtheyde do well to listen to that old school krsone song...

20 year olds go to clubs. That's not the issue. Per his mother on radio today (Mitch Albom show) he gave up the glasses but was shot in the back anyways. I don't know if that's true or not but that's what she said.

If he or his family worked for the glasses he or they had every right to spend money as they saw fit. The bad person here is the person or persons who pulled the trigger.

Back in the eighties people in Detroit were shooting each other over Max Julien jackets. This is just a rerun.

It sounds like he may have been targeted. The perpetrator had probably seen him around town before wearing those glasses and maybe knew that he went to that club from time to time, waited him out and pounced on him as he left the club.

A lot of us don't remember when we were kids.It didn't matter the race, class, or sex, everybody "perpetrated". You take a cheap car and fake whitewalls, chrome and pimp it out. My car was a "pimped out" Pinto.

In the first half of the twentieth century blacks from the south began what became known as the Great Migration. As sharecropping became untenable for many, blacks moved to Chicago, LA, Gary, Detroit, and other industrial centers in search of better paying work.

In Detroit, blacks found work in the auto and steel industries, but they faced rampant discrimination in labor unions, which usually kept them in the worst jobs. Still, manufacturing pay was good, and the black working class gained strength.

In the city, whites used citizen councils, red lining, and outright terrorism to keep from integrating neighborhoods. As these tactics eventually failed, white flight to the suburbs left more and more of the city in black hands. However, many manufacturing opportunities went to the outskirts of the city with it. At the same time, the slow erosion of low skilled and semi skilled jobs saw the beginings of the decline of the city.

In recent decades the all out collapse of industry in Detroit has by far hit blacks the hardest, while the the legacy of post war racial exclusionary policies drained the cities tax base and left blacks going to the worst schools and living in the worse neighborhoods. Not to mention the slow collapse of the auto industry (lead by all white folks, so you know) deprived people of jobs that paid living wages. You won't find many of those in Detroit now.

So no, it wasn't slavery. It was indeed something akin to it though-at least in terms of pure hate and evil.

I'll also add to your list that he was a 20 year old high school junior. When I was young, he would have been forced out of school at 21 and made to get a GED. (Never mind that my parents would have kicked him out of the house for getting left back twice AND impregnating someone. Oh I know, boo hoo. )

The 20 yr old victim has a kid, he's not out of high school and he's at a club wearing $2400 glasses that he supposedly worked for. BTW, as a parent who had to take care of much younger siblings while in high school, there is no way this "star athlete" went to school full time, was on a sports team and still adequately supported his baby. Don't kid yourselves.

My sympathy is for the baby. I'm not sure whether I feel sorry for the victim's mother. I'd have to know more about her situation. Maybe it's because of my experiences with "family" that treats it's members as well as an enemy that I question some parents true feelings towards their kids, especially when tragedy hits. Sounds cold, but it's honesty.

Meanwhile, if the no snitching fad is in effect, nothing will come of the investigation. When will some people value their own lives as well as the lives of others, (especially of those who look more like you?)

n_s, I shouldn't do this; but I am going to help you expand your horizons. Please read a book called "All God's Children" by Fox Butterfield. You can thank me later. I just get so tired of seeing you make a fool of yourself.(I get tired of seeing folks like Well & Mellaneous slap you down)

"Field, did you know that 'Necrophilia' is on the rise? I learned this little known information from my agents here at Anon, Inc.

It seems that people are stessed out these days, and are looking for ways to express themselves in ways that make them feel more 'alive'.

Have you considered buying a pair of necrophiliac chasing shoes to go with your racism track shoes? You could easily 'double' your catch-rate."

I am sure that there are a lot of married folks out there who will tell you that it has been on a rise for awhile now....*drums and laugh track*come on, that was funny. :)

twinkletows, I am feeling you on the bull. Was he black or white? I might have to make him an HFNOTD. :)

Shady...you are right, the victim shouldn't be blamed. Let's not forget who the real scumbag is. The asshole that shot the kid. Still, $2,400 glasses? It kind of just speaks to how f&*%$d up our priorities are. Not only as a people, but as a society on a whole. I could see if he needed them for his profession or something. I have a very expensive Montblanc pen, but I use it every day, it's a tool of my trade. I am quite sure that construction workers have very expensive tool boxes. But $2,400 glasses just to flash? I don't get it.

@Smashed:Your information is incorrect.The young man's name was Darryle Miller Jr. He was not a 20 year old hs junior. He was a college student. Did you not see where he had just transferred to Georgetown? So the rest of your rant is illogical since it's based on bad information.

Unless you happen to know intimate details about his home life, his relationship with his child, his child's mother, his child's mother's family, his own family your speculation or ANYONE's speculating about his paternal responsibilities before the funeral has even been held is really a stupid and callous thing to do. And it's also 100% irrelevant to what happened.

Again, people go out to socialize and have fun. That's what people do. They've done that for thousands of years and will continue to do that. That doesn't mean they they deserve to get shot.

@NsangomaAs far as the cost of the glasses:AFAIK the young man was not a criminal. Either he worked for the glasses or family members helped him purchase the glasses as a graduation gift. Some may think that's a silly waste of $$$. And it may well be. But that does not mean that he deserved to be shot over it. Everyone here likely has "nice" things of one nature or another-whether it be clothes, cars, glasses, watches, jewelry, homes, whatever. The problem is not in buying such things. The problem is with predators who see no problem in assaulting or killing others to take such things.

The double standards and callousness on display here are amazing. If it were a woman who dressed up in her tightest and lowest cut top, shortest skirt and highest heels and went out for a night on the town only to be raped because some predator minded a$$hole saw that as an invitation to take what he wanted I would hope that people would not be trying to find reasons to blame the woman.

Incidentally this is why I think that Michigan needs to have the death penalty and in addition law abiding citizens should arm themselves to defend against the sort of monsters that have no problem taking life over such trifles as shiny glasses.

FWIW I personally don't see the wisdom of purchasing $2400 glasses but neither do I see the wisdom of spending $50,000 to buy a new Mustang or more for a Escalade or Navigator. But people do these things. And if it makes them happy and they can afford it God bless them. I don't have that kind of $$$ and don't expect to any time soon..

Folks in Detroit and elsewhere have been murdered over much less than $2400. They've been killed over the wrong look or for tennis shoes or $50. The material good is just an excuse.

"If it were a woman who dressed up in her tightest and lowest cut top, shortest skirt and highest heels and went out for a night on the town only to be raped because some predator minded a$$hole saw that as an invitation to take what he wanted I would hope that people would not be trying to find reasons to blame the woman."

I was thinking the same thing but you said it better than I could have. Thank you, Mr. Grady.

I have a problem with how the value of goods is determined. $2400 is way too much for glasses as is $400 to me when I think how little each has cost to produce. Prescription glasses are not ground by some old artisan in the back room of the Optician's, they are ground by computer aided machines. I can't see paying 200 dollars for a pair unless I can sit on them, twist them or drop them on a stone tile floor without scratching; basically indestructible.

Did he, Darryle Miller, Junior, leave insurance to care for and educate that girl-baby? Or, has he left her with only pictures of himself wearing $2400 shades?

The white folk who make them shades, are their lives insured for the security of their scion?

I get tired of hearing about promising nigguhs with athletic scholarships; motherfuck that shit.

This was a baby-mama creating Negroe, on his way to making more baby mamas in DC.

What makes a Negroe with a basketball scholarship so special that he is excused from fathering his daughter?

His ig-nant ass mama standing there, being interviewed in designer glasses; fuck all of them.

The Niggruh stupidity has to stop somewhere; this fool has been remove from the procreating gene pool. Unfortunately, not before he co-created a daughter.

Any woman going out in low-cut, tight, short shit; needs to have back-up with her, because that is just the way it is. One should not go around doing stupid shit, just because one has the right to go around doing stupid shit.

When one goes out dressed like that or wearing $2400 sunglasses, she/he is supposed to step through the club door directly into an awaiting limousine; not walk to the nearest bus stop.

More importantly, make these Negroes take care of their spawn; did he, Darryle Miller, Junior, leave insurance to care for and educate that girl-baby?

n_s, I shouldn't do this; but I am going to help you expand your horizons. Please read a book called "All God's Children" by Fox Butterfield.

Oh boy. Another book -- as if I haven't read "Talley's Corner", "There Are No Children Here" by Alex Kotlowitz, "The Promised Land" by Nicholas Lemann and work by Andrew Hacker, Jonathan Kozol, Frantz Fanon, William Julius Wilson, Cornel West, Malcolm X et.al. and chapters of sociology texts on this subject.

Here's a suggestion for you. Look into the experiences of groups that have come to America and found success.

You can start with asians. Asian kids, despite being only 14% of the students in NY City public schools are on top. They dominate. Good for them. Everyone else should emulate them.

Asians are the new Jews who were previously the top public school students.

The Irish also rose, and, in fact, it was the Irish in NY City who showed the Jews how it was done. It's always the same story -- Get an education. Learn something useful.

This young man's murder is Obama's fault. Having a pair of first-rate sunglasses is a right, and if the government made sure everyone had them, there would be no need to kill someone to get a pair. America is a rich nation and can afford to provide people with the things they need. Cheap sunglasses just don't protect your eyes as well, and it's not fair that some people get better sunglasses. The shooter was probably just tired of going through life squinting just because he was poor, while the rich cruised through life looking good in top quality shades. No justice, no peace.

Obama has been doing lots of winking as president, but all his signals are designed to please the other side. He almost injured his eyeballs winking at Republicans when he stacked his administration with Bush holdovers and Wall Streeters. He winked till his eyelashes nearly fell out at the insurance and drug companies as he arranged for their continued dominance and super-profits in health care. Obama winked his way into a much larger war in Afghanistan and beyond. He's got that wink, alright, but it's always in the wrong direction.

$2400 glasses - Either he got the money from student loans or since being a "basketball star" maybe he got them from some scout or from some chic but I doubt he actually worked for them. And I was at clubs at 16..well teen dances but now and days it's "18 to chill, 21 to spill", but I disagree that he should have been home with his daughter on a Saturday night. That could been the only 1 of the very few times he could have gotten out with his "peeps" and at 20 that's what your supposed to do. What pisses me off about the whole thing is that black males were involved. (Let's see what kind of response that line gets me and I'll defend it too). On the one hand your gonna get shit talkers asking "What's a kid doing with a pair of $2400 glasses in the first place?" - which really isn't anybodys business to begin with and on the other hand your gonna have the shit talkers reaffirming their assumptions/suspicions about all young black males commiting violent crimes or the propensity to do it. The situation just sucks all around.

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Anonymous said...

A $2,300 pair of sunglasses is God's way of telling you that you cannot be trusted with money.

10:08 PM Leave G outta this, He had nothing to do with it - so peddle that shit elsewhere.

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no_slappz said...

I know. I know. It's all because of slavery.

11:33 PM

Second, I'll bet the kid did not, in any way, support his child. That burden was picked up by taxpayers. 8:05 AM -Once again "Slappy" is trying lure Steve in so he can portray his "superiority" - Give it a rest dude, your too easy to figure out.

I am sorry, but the inner city is infested with thugs and I don't go there.

What kind of community advocates for wearing their pants where their butts show.

Please, that is disgusting. And ebonics? And brown cigarettes? And caps with stickers on them? And...the list goes on and on. Thugs, I wish they would just all shoot each ohter up and get it over with.

Anonymous said..."This young man's murder is Obama's fault. Having a pair of first-rate sunglasses is a right, and if the government made sure everyone had them, there would be no need to kill someone to get a pair. America is a rich nation and can afford to provide people with the things they need. Cheap sunglasses just don't protect your eyes as well, and it's not fair that some people get better sunglasses. The shooter was probably just tired of going through life squinting just because he was poor, while the rich cruised through life looking good in top quality shades. No justice, no peace."

The shame of it is that this was another black on black crime. Wasn't there a white man with $2,400 sunglasses that he could have killed instead? Instead, another brother pays the price for the white man's crimes.

What kind of community advocates for wearing their pants where their butts show.

Please, that is disgusting. And ebonics? And brown cigarettes? And caps with stickers on them? And...the list goes on and on. Thugs, I wish they would just all shoot each ohter up and get it over with.

Nsangoma, my values are no good when you're here blaming the victim? You don't know anything about the victim other than he's dead. And a woman deserves to be raped because of how she may dress?

If you are REALLY interested in discovering what sort of life insurance plans Miller may have had or wish to berate his mother or the mother of his child for their or his (alleged) lack of financial acumen why don't you stop by the candlelight vigil tonight or better yet parachute into the funeral tomorrow where I am certain that everyone will be receptive to your no doubt impressive reasoning and unimpeachable moral status. Or you can just shoot an email to WXYZ.com http://www.wxyz.com/subindex/about_us/contact_us where instead of leaving condolences, tips about the shooting or offering to help pay for the funeral as most human people are doing you can let them know you think it's a good thing that the man was removed from the gene pool. Let us know how that works out. Shithead.

As F Nietzsche said " the killer is more interested in act of killing and the robbery is usually just a cover up for that" or words to that effect.America is full of envious and venomous people and things like this will always happen whether it's "blacks killing each other" for expensive sunglasses or "whites killing their whole families" for peace of mind.

What kind of community advocates for wearing their pants where their butts show.

Please, that is disgusting. And ebonics? And brown cigarettes? And caps with stickers on them? And...the list goes on and on. Thugs, I wish they would just all shoot each ohter up and get it over with.

__________________________________

I got an answer for you, Beverly Hills, California. It's not "Black" culture, it's "American" culture. Even the white kids that listen to Country turn their hats backwards. Go into your kids room and look at their record collection. Look at their clothes.

Well, loved the Detroit history lesson, but could you please tell anyone what it has to do with a 20-year-old kid with a $2,400 pair of sunglasses and a child out of wedlock?

I was trying to explain the origins of how such a thing could happen, and even become commonplace.

Consumption lifestyles permeate ever part of America-the inner city is no different.

How does a twenty year old kid afford $ 2,400 dollar glasses? Most likely from some kind of illegal dealings. In places like Detroit, the underground economy and illicit incomes are commonplace-especially so considering the formal economy has broken down. Everyone is being sold a consumer lifestyle here in America, even those who have no means to achieve one by legitimate means.

The weight of statistical evidence links the disintegration of the black family in urban areas with the much reduced labor rate participation of black males. If marriage is at all based on economics-and it is. Then the massive economical shifts-that have hit blacks harder than any other group-make marriage a much less attractive proposition. If poor black males are unable to find adequate employment, and unable to provide for their families, them marrying one makes much less sense. And as inner city neighborhoods have deteriorated in earnest, social prohibitions against out of wedlock children disappear-as they are among whites.

As late as the 1950s, single parent households were not the norm in the black community. Not were crime rates sky high in the inner city. Black male labor participation rates were high as well. Changes in the formal economy, the end of segregation, and then resegregation, along with continued discrimination in hiring and in prison sentencing have largely contributed to the situation as it stands now, in Detroit and in other major urban areas.

well said..."As late as the 1950s, single parent households were not the norm in the black community."

You list several reasons why this changed, but leave out a major one: the Great Society programs of the 1960's disincentivized both employment and marriage. Social programs designed to give a helping hand instead became a crutch and in turn, an anchor.

Getting married meant losing income, so why get married? Why start working a minimum wage job if you get by on ADC and food stamps? If you wanted a raise, have another baby. Men, made irrelevant by the process, and without the incentive of family, fell into destructive idleness. Without their defining role as provider, they became lost. After a generation or two of this, people don't know any other way to live.

Businesses left the cities due to lack of skilled workers and due to ever increasing taxes and costs levied by ever more liberal city governments. Today, many businesses rationally decide to not locate in such high cost environments.

These communities need to be radically reinvented, not by the same old entitlement mentality peddled by liberalism, but by rebuilding a solid economic base, one brick at a time.

Well, I agree that the Black family has disintegrated and crime is on the rise and our fracture political economy is the primary cause. Crime is currently a) proportional to population growth and b) an expected outcome of economic destabilization.

So before we start thinking that the 1950's was so stable let's remember that

a)there were street gangs, drugs broken homes and extreme poverty back in the day

b) the reason why the 50's and 60's were stable were because of the rise of a stable middle class and

c) there simply weren't as many people in the US as there are today. Immigration, longer lifespan and a relatively stable birth rate has help the US avoid the population implosion that looms over countries like Italy.

The reason why families stayed together in the 50-60's was because there weren't the insane economic pressures we have today.

Again, we fix our greater infrastructure issues and political economy, many of our social ills will take care of themselves.

To Anon @ 2:31 -- the economic based eroded because of deregulation and real lack of focus on education/retooling the workforce. Corporations and our government enablers found cheaper in the short term to ship manufacturing over to China and Mexico and hire Indian software engineers at the wages reserved for grocery store clerks and Starbucks Baristas.

NSangoma said "Any woman going out in low-cut, tight, short shit; needs to have back-up with her, because that is just the way it is. One should not go around doing stupid shit, just because one has the right to go around doing stupid shit."

And one should not go around talking stupid shit just because they have the right to talk about stupid shit. Then someone should be able to pop you in the mouth for talking stupid shit. Shouldn't that too be the way it is?

I too question the victim's parental priorities, his possible dealings and how or why he would even have a $2,500.00 pair of luxury sunglasses, especially under his personal circumstances. However being robbed and killed senselessly over such item trumps all those judgments, and the price of the sunglasses becomes irrelevant in that sense.

This street pirating in the black communities and mother blaming shit has got to stop. Today its his $2,500.00 sunglasses, tomorrow its your $3.00 watch as you step out your home to go to work in the morning.

LACoincidental said..."To Anon @ 2:31 -- the economic based eroded because of deregulation and real lack of focus on education/retooling the workforce. Corporations and our government enablers found cheaper in the short term to ship manufacturing over to China and Mexico and hire Indian software engineers at the wages reserved for grocery store clerks and Starbucks Baristas."

This is a tired narrative, LAC. Businesses go wherever they can make money. Profits arise from the effective use of capital and labor. Government interference rarely helps things.

There are still lots of people and other resources that could make many American cities prosper. Lower the cost of doing business by cutting taxes, removing regulatory barriers, and focusing limited resources on infrastructure improvements, and you'll induce employers to come back to the cities. The existence of good jobs will foster good worth ethics, self-improvement, and a healthy society. Nihilism born of despair and self-hatred will fade. The path forward is clear, if you will just look.

bubba was a puppet toojust a far less brutally evil and blue booded one than hobama and king shrub

our ONLY salvation will be revolutionary changes via local heroes/social warriors who will never be prez---

The wealth and income divide is the widest in the world and that between whites and African Americans is so immense that it makes the African American community appear like a neo-colony. Africans Americans are experiencing a transfer of wealth and income from their families and communities to the wealthy, and white people generally, on a scale not seen since slavery. We are in the throes of de-development. There is no way to avoid the racist foundations to the economic crisis. Stiglitz, like other progressive economists, neither grasp nor factor racism into their analyses. In historical terms, racism, slavery, Jim Crow and the new forms of black oppression have always distorted the economy and predisposed it to crisis. Among the multiple determinates of the current situation, race is a huge factor. Liberating the masses of black folk from the plunderous combination of white supremacy and finance capitalism is fundamental to solving the crisis.

Twenty-first century American capitalism is essentially two economies, a real economy and a virtual economy. The real economy is the economy of goods and services, the virtual or fictitious economy is the economy driven by hedge funds, investment banks and is driven by fictitious capital and derivatives, like Credit Default Swaps and Credit Debt Obligations. Globally the real economy is about $70 trillion dollars, the fictitious economy is $700 trillion. Wall Street is about the fictitious economy. The Bush and Obama Administrations socialized the banks’ losses and allowed the banks to privatize profits, and working people are paying for the whole bloody mess. We will pay for this in closed schools, hospitals, libraries, firehouses, and police protection and so on for generations.

However, the social market economy can only be a transition to a socialist market economy and ultimately to advanced forms of 21st century socialism. In this new type of economy, finance capital would be completely eliminated. Banks would exist, but they would either be highly regulated or state owned. There would be planning of industrial, social, cultural, environmental, energy and infrastructure development. Planning should be factored into even Stiglitz’ social market economy. In the social market transitionary economy and the socialist economy the emphasis would be upon the social and cultural development of people and civil society. Education, health care and housing would be social rights. The moral foundation of society would anchor in the welfare of people. In both the transitionary and socialist stages of development the struggle to eliminate institutional and personal racism from social and cultural life would assume utmost significance.

Viewed another way, the median white family was 11 times richer than the median Black family in 1984 ($2,000 vs. $22,000). By 2007, the white household had become 20 times richer than its Black counterpart($5,000 vs. $100,000).Any way one measures it, the numbers show African Americans are tumbling out of the nation’s economic orbit, wealth-wise, on a trajectory that can never achieve parity with whites. I repeat: never.

hobamanomics will only continue to WIDEN the racial incme gap and make it widER than ever...shame!!!

LACoincidental said..."To Anon @ 2:31 -- the economic based eroded because of deregulation and real lack of focus on education/retooling the workforce. Corporations and our government enablers found cheaper in the short term to ship manufacturing over to China and Mexico and hire Indian software engineers at the wages reserved for grocery store clerks and Starbucks Baristas."

This is a tired narrative, LAC. Businesses go wherever they can make money. Profits arise from the effective use of capital and labor. Government interference rarely helps things.

There are still lots of people and other resources that could make many American cities prosper. Lower the cost of doing business by cutting taxes, removing regulatory barriers, and focusing limited resources on infrastructure improvements, and you'll induce employers to come back to the cities. The existence of good jobs will foster good worth ethics, self-improvement, and a healthy society. Nihilism born of despair and self-hatred will fade. The path forward is clear, if you will just look.

"Lower the cost of doing business by cutting taxes, removing regulatory barriers, and focusing limited resources on infrastructure improvements, and you'll induce employers to come back to the cities."? Isn't the same bull that corporate oligarchs peddled for decades in the South? Isn't your lowering taxes and penalties one of the main reasons Gulf Coast is one big oil slick today?

Anon, the idea of deregulation and the suspension of labor laws is a tired meme. The whole 'let business do their thing without government regulation' gave us BP Oil Spill, the Housing bubble and Market Crash, S&L, Toyota, salmanella in spinach, etc.

If anything, we should follow Germany's model -- they've embraced a strong collaboration between organized labor and business, even going so far require executive board seats be reserved for Union leaders, community organized and even students.

Also, why not put real dollars behind re-education and expanding broadband access? Well, because middle class white America rarely backs anything that might benefit their brown neighbors or the inner city. And too many hipsters and yuppies get really NIMBY when the idea of running fiber optics through their pristine suburb to provide internet access to some sh** kicker in a farming town. That and our leaders are too scared of losing those fat corporate campaign dollars to regulate the telecommunication industry.

I sympathize with this mother losing her child. I sympathize with his sister losing her brother. I don't understand the fascination with status symbols of any kind. I had to leave LA to get away from that crap thirty plus years ago. The victim sounds like a hard working kid (I guess if he could afford that kind of expensive status) who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Perhaps if he'd just saved his money in the bank...?

I never said the forties or fifties were utopia. One of the main changes came after the end of du jour segregation when black professionals left the inner city. That-along with the massive economic restructuring that started in force in the 1970s-left black communities in the city in terrible shape. Add the drug trade into that mix and the rise of the for profit prison industry and you have a complete disaster.

"If anything, we should follow Germany's model -- they've embraced a strong collaboration between organized labor and business, even going so far require executive board seats be reserved for Union leaders, community organized and even students."

Good point. Here we've dismantled unions and deregulated to the extreme. So now you can have a CEO making 400 time what an average employee makes sink or radically downsize a whole company to the detriment of thousands of employees-all to put a few extra bucks in shareholder profits.

Good point. Here we've dismantled unions and deregulated to the extreme. So now you can have a CEO making 400 time what an average employee makes sink or radically downsize a whole company to the detriment of thousands of employees-all to put a few extra bucks in shareholder profits.___________-If the CEO's salary was tied to the lowest paid employee in the company the gap might be closed a bit, and there would be incentive to pay the lowest paid employee more money, just a thought.

Alicia, didn't you like the link to the lady who got her shoe taken off and her foot was smelled? What is your intellectual opinion on that topic, it was linked at the bottom of the post? Maybe Obama had something to do with the cop on foot patrol?

How do we know the man who was killed didn't steal the glasses from someone else? How does a 20 year old have $2400 for sunglasses?

Twenty years ago, black youth were killing each other over gold chains, athletic shoes, athletic jackets, whatever. I'm sure the poor mouthers will pull out the violins and try to make us feel for the little shit who did this. We don't know if the person who killed him was poor and disenfranchised but that will be the talking points.

Anon said..."We don't know if the person who killed him was poor and disenfranchised but that will be the talking points."

The color of your soul is showing.

That may be the talking point, but we both know the reason. This country's focus on materialism, and its greed. Check out one Bernie Madoff, and Wall Street Banksters. They make this kid look like a saint.

Although these evil Wall Street people didn't kill anyone directly, they sure did indirectly. Losses mounted, and many caught in their web took their lives.

If anything, we should follow Germany's model -- they've embraced a strong collaboration between organized labor and business, even going so far require executive board seats be reserved for Union leaders, community organized and even students.

First, YOU really need some coursework in ECONOMICS.

Second, the UAW, for example, has had seats on the boards of directors of US car companies for a long time.

Union leaders are morons. They have a mantra -- MORE MONEY, MORE BENEFITS.

The exception occurs when unions become owners as they have with a couple of small steel companies, for example. Then they learn what it means to run a business.

Ah, once again a black guy blames whites and depends on LYING to do it. You're a regular Al Sharpton.

And too many hipsters and yuppies get really NIMBY when the idea of running fiber optics through their pristine suburb to provide internet access to some sh** kicker in a farming town.

You clearly have NO IDEA what you're claiming. The cableTV/Internet Service Providers have Utility-Company status, which means they are virtually always granted a Right-of-Way to run cables.

In many areas it is the Incumbent Phone Company that runs the fiber. Or Time-Warner Cable or Cablevision. Having worked in the industry, I've seen the process from start to finish.

However, I admit that there was one hyper-violent public housing project that my former employer -- Cablevision -- would NOT wire. Despite being pushed by the state government to run cable TV service to this horrible housing project, our work crews refused due to our on-site crime problems at other projects.

Hipsters? Those wimps? They rent, which means they have no say in cable installation. Meanwhile, every building needs cableTV/internet/VoIP service if the owners expect tenants to move in.

That and our leaders are too scared of losing those fat corporate campaign dollars to regulate the telecommunication industry.

More utter nonsense. Here in Flatbush, Brooklyn EVERY housing project is wired for cableTV. Why? Because the politicians here in Flatbush are black, the majority of VOTERS are black and the majority of residents get by on money from taxpayers living elsewhere.

You really need to overcome your financial and economic ignorance. It's a good idea for you to learn something about how Regulation CAUSES the very problems you think it can prevent.

Here we've dismantled unions and deregulated to the extreme. So now you can have a CEO making 400 time what an average employee makes sink or radically downsize a whole company to the detriment of thousands of employees-all to put a few extra bucks in shareholder profits.

News Flash: Stockholders OWN the company. The profits BELONG to Stockholders and employees are hired to deliver maximized profits to the OWNERS.

If the CEO's salary was tied to the lowest paid employee in the company the gap might be closed a bit, and there would be incentive to pay the lowest paid employee more money, just a thought.

I see. So you want the government to set rates of pay. How does that work? Can professional athletes get paid $25 million a year? Or is that too much?

Well said..."If anything, we should follow Germany's model -- they've embraced a strong collaboration between organized labor and business, even going so far require executive board seats be reserved for Union leaders, community organized and even students."

"Good point. Here we've dismantled unions and deregulated to the extreme. So now you can have a CEO making 400 time what an average employee makes sink or radically downsize a whole company to the detriment of thousands of employees-all to put a few extra bucks in shareholder profits."

No, it's a ridiculous point, the same kind of thinking that has led to the economic ruin of our major cities.

Unions don't create jobs- they purposely limit the number of jobs to increase the price of labor.

Detroit is not Germany.

Ninnies like LAC have obviously never tried to start a business in a city like New York. The number of permits, licenses, and other hurdles is astounding. Idiot initiatives like "Living wage" and mandatory health coverage make it very risky to hire new employees.

The goose that laid the golden eggs has been strangled, and you think the problems is it needs to be squeezed some more. How much failure does it take before you reconsider your actions?

First, YOU really need some coursework in ECONOMICS.____________no-slpz, right back at ya, as far the who owns the company, your idea about the stockholders, all you have to do is look at a prospectus on an ipo to see if a company is real or not by how much the ceo and other officers will get paid, it's that simple.

and as far as the gov setting wages, they already do establish the min. wage, why not establish a min. livable wage. why should some fat cat with no brains like you make all the money, you are not a very capable or logical person, but you probably get a huge salary that you don't even deserve.

More utter nonsense. Here in Flatbush, Brooklyn EVERY housing project is wired for cableTV. Why? Because the politicians here in Flatbush are black, the majority of VOTERS are black and the majority of residents get by on money from taxpayers living elsewhere.--------------

omg, you didn't really say that, did you Slappy? every apt. complex i have ever lived in came with cable, it was part of the rent, it was easier for the cable companies, bottom line.

Slap-Happy said..."Union leaders are morons. They have a mantra -- MORE MONEY, MORE BENEFITS."

Can't let people have benefits. It will cut into the company's profits, ceo's bonuses, and kill off the company.

Better to go to China, and screw over them there with China's blessings.

"There are "real dollars" spent on "re-education." But there's such a huge problem with "basic education" that "re-education" for many is a near impossibility."

How did all these dumb people come to work for these companies? If they're that dumb, then they were too dumb to be employed in the first place.

"Ah, once again a black guy blames whites and depends on LYING to do it. You're a regular Al Sharpton."

O My God, she didn't do that! God forbid whites are blame for anything. They're the salt of the earth. The pillar of virtue. And to lie to one of them, that's got to be the worse sin of all. Only whites get to lie. They lie to blacks, and everyone.

And he called you "Al Sharpton." What an insult.

How about a tit for tat? You're a regular George Bush, a regular Rush Limbaugh, a regular Hanniety.

That ought to even the score.

"You really need to overcome your financial and economic ignorance. It's a good idea for you to learn something about how Regulation CAUSES the very problems you think it can prevent."

Damn Dude! Why are you here among your intellectual inferiors? You're clearly superior to the pygmy brains of the uneducated blacks here.

Why not go over to those Mensa stocked blogs, and give them a piece of your superior mind.

We're too dumb to appreciate what you're trying to do here on our behalf.

In the land of the blind, the one eye man is king. Here on this blog you're the king.

How the hell you get intellectual satisfaction is beyond me?

Wait, maybe you're not as sighted as you have us believe, and not as bright either.

FYI: Miss USA, a MUSLIM, has made it clear that no Mosque should be built near Ground Zero. That should put it to rest..esp. for all of you pro-Mosque at ground zero losers. Eat your heart out, LAC and Jody. Just goes to show neither of you have a 'logical or rational' cell in your brain.

On the subject of ridiculousness, what economic and social forces are at work that we in this country have sun-glasses that sell for $2,400?

First, I am certain the dead kid paid NOTHING or maybe $10 for his knock-offs or stolen glasses. But that's separate from the fact that "designer" products such as these Cartier glasses are marketed at insane prices.

A Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari or Porsche sells for a lot of money too. But those are complex machines that require the work, skill, brainpower and extraordinary craftsmanship to produce.

The glasses are cheap plastic popped into a mold and probably have a manufacturing cost of about a dollar.

In other words, poor people, like the dead kid, who buy image products, are the biggest morons around.

Then there's the killer. Frankly, I doubt he shot the kid for the glasses. At some point we're likely to learn the dead kid was less honorable and less honest than his supporters have claimed.

Anyway, what is it that makes people -- especially blacks -- lose their minds, and sometimes their lives, over their desire for certain sneakers, jackets, glasses and other clothing items?

I know I'll never see the day when one black kid shoots another over a book.

FYI: Miss USA, a MUSLIM, has made it clear that no Mosque should be built near Ground Zero. That should put it to rest..esp. for all of you pro-Mosque at ground zero losers. Eat your heart out, LAC and Jody. Just goes to show neither of you have a 'logical or rational' cell in your brain.

And some black folks thought we should stay under slavery, what's your point.

Like Obama, this young lady realizes that saying anything that doesn't cow tow to the most ignorant in our society would cost her her crown. She didn't want to offend the wrong people, or hell anyone with enough clout in politics to raise a stink. There's a Tom in every community, just like there's a Cousin Pookie.

And besides, she's the Arab American equivalent of a dumb blonde party girl. Under normal circumstances, would anyone care what she thought? Should we allow pageant winners decide public policy (outside of Alaska)?

And no_slappz, before you start spewing your Limbaugh nonsense, like we always tell you, read a book that hasn't been pre-screened by Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly. The Europeans enjoy economic and social securities we couldn't imagine.

And the last time I checked, the European social pensions and state treasuries nearly tanked because our unregulated Wall Street Wizards took everyone, not just American home owners and taxpayers, to the cleaners. Iceland's economy sank because their state pensions were invested in our markets -- which we refuse to regulate.

as far the who owns the company, your idea about the stockholders, all you have to do is look at a prospectus on an ipo to see if a company is real or not by how much the ceo and other officers will get paid, it's that simple.

Inasmuch as I have logged a lot of years on Wall Street, I can say YOU know nothing about finance and do not understand the contents of an IPO prospectus. You comment is hopelessly naive.

and as far as the gov setting wages, they already do establish the min. wage, why not establish a min. livable wage.

Oh. Liveable wage. I see. Another nitwit comment.

What is your estimate for a "liveable wage"?

Meanwhile, if you add up the value of benefits given to people at the low end of the ecnomic spectrum in this country you get a high number.

A single black woman with a kid gets housing, sometimes for free. The mother and child get nutrition benefits -- food stamps. They get Medicaid. The kid gets FREE schooling.

When you add up the value, the total goes over $20,000 a year.

The standard work week is 40 hours, which becomes 2,000 hours for 50 weeks of the year. Thus, it takes a wage of more than $10 an hour to obtain the after-tax total of $20,000 that.

However, here in the bizarro world of liberal economics, a single mother who actually works gets the Earned Income Credit, which is a Negative Tax. She gets the benefits, plus a bonus for working.

Of course she's got little or no skill, so these situations are often rather sticky.

Meanwhile, with respect to earnings, people spend and/or save.

Moreover, if you knew anything about basic economics, you would know that things are priced to reflect the amount of money chasing them.

Hence, some morons will spend $2,400 on sunglasses while spending NOTHING on food for their kids.

The Europeans enjoy economic and social securities we couldn't imagine.

First, your statement is a half-truth. But it is true that European nations offer healthcare the way the US offers public school education.

One reason this is citizenship. The nations of Europe boot out freeloaders when they find them. Whereas, freeloaders in America know it only takes an "anchor baby" to get a lifetime of free benefits in this country.

As you know, lots of businesses reduce staff here and replace them by having the same work performed in other countries.

The chief reason is the cost of benefits. Not wages. Honda and Toyota pay high wages to their US auto-workers. But they offer lower healthcare benefits and less generous retirement benefits.

However, if the US goes whole hog into Universal Healthcare, then TAXES on US companies will rise to pay for those benefits. At that point, companies will expand more in foreign countries and less here. Unless there is simply no alternative.

The construction industry cannot "outsource" its operations. Neither can education, agriculture, energy, and a number of others.

Therefore, if our screwball president wants to nail taxpayers with the bill for universal healthcare, he will have to let oil companies expand in the US -- a lot.

And the last time I checked, the European social pensions and state treasuries nearly tanked because our unregulated Wall Street Wizards took everyone, not just American home owners and taxpayers, to the cleaners.

The last time YOU checked? You checked nothing, because you have no understanding of finance and economics. Don't worry, you're not alone. As blacks like to say, it's a black thing.

Iceland's economy sank because their state pensions were invested in our markets -- which we refuse to regulate.

Once again, you insist on demonstrating your absence of knowledge.

A chief culprit in the whole financial fiasco were the Ratings Agencies. Standard & Poors, Moodys and Fitch.

These three are known as Nationally Recognized Statistical Ratings Organizations.

Who or what recognizes them? The US government. That's who. Therefore, getting a good rating from one of the agencies was viewed as getting a stamp of approval from the US government.

If all investors had to perform real due diligence -- real analysis -- on their investments, they would have behaved differently.

But inasmuch as the Rating Agencies were government approved, their was no drive to question their conclusions.

Meanwhile, unknown to you, is the Wall Street reality that many small investment shops are in the business of competing with S&P, Moodys and Fitch.

The small shops do the analysis and spot the securities with bad ratings given by the Big Three. Then they bet against the Big Three, often winning.

Or, the small shops simply advise clients to get out of securities that are weaker than the Big Three believe, or clients are advised to buy securities that are better than the Big Three think. It's a great game and I've been in it.

Inasmuch as I have logged a lot of years on Wall Street, I can say YOU know nothing about finance and do not understand the contents of an IPO prospectus. You comment is hopelessly naive.______________LOL, thanks for that! However, my comment still stands, all you have to do is look at the prospectus to see if a company is real or not by what they are going to pay all the officers and CEO's. Meanwhile, the "shareholders" get a nice loss on their income tax return.

and livable wages, work forty hours a week, you should make enough money to afford to live somewhere, eat, raise your kids, basic things like that.

...all you have to do is look at the prospectus to see if a company is real or not by what they are going to pay all the officers and CEO's.

I know you cannot read a prospectus. But maybe you think you know the name of a "real" company and one that is not "real."

How about giving an example of each?

Meanwhile, the "shareholders" get a nice loss on their income tax return.

Oh. Are you one of the nitwits who thinks you can make money by losing money? If you are one of those nitwits, please explain the tax treatment to me. If you show me how to make money by losing money I will share my profits with you.

and livable wages, work forty hours a week, you should make enough money to afford to live somewhere, eat, raise your kids, basic things like that.

Liveable wage? Should the government mandate this wage be paid to people who work in convenience stores? Or pumping gas? Or cashiering at a local hardware store?

S&P, Moodys and Fitch have NO connection to "penny stocks." Neither do I.__________i never said that there was a connection. i give up talking with you because you are too mixed up and your comment is nonsensical.

Meanwhile, the "shareholders" get a nice loss on their income tax return.

Oh. Are you one of the nitwits who thinks you can make money by losing money?_______please give more attention to what is written, i never said that either.you are the one who said that shareholders own the company, i just replied that they don't have the control you are making them out to have over the CEO and officers.

the only newspaper that writes accurately about finance is the Wall Street Journal

Isn't that the same newspaper who's editorial column constantly pushes to keep the Bush tax cuts, cut the capital gains tax, and get rid of the "death tax" (actually the inheritance tax) even though none of those things have been statistically shown to buoy the economy?

the only newspaper that writes accurately about finance is the Wall Street Journal

Really? The same newspaper whose editorial page constantly echos the call for the renewal of the Bush tax cuts, cuts to the capital gains tax, and a revoking of the inheritance tax-even those none of those things have been shown statistically to bolster the economy.

"Really? The same newspaper whose editorial page constantly echos the call for the renewal of the Bush tax cuts, cuts to the capital gains tax, and a revoking of the inheritance tax-even those none of those things have been shown statistically to bolster the economy."

Uh, yes they have (at least the tax cuts). Where do you get your (mis)information?

"Like Obama, this young lady realizes that saying anything that doesn't cow tow to the most ignorant in our society would cost her her crown. She didn't want to offend the wrong people, or hell anyone with enough clout in politics to raise a stink. There's a Tom in every community, just like there's a Cousin Pookie."

LAC, I find it comical how your immature mind puts words in the mouths of others...or reasons why people say, or do not say, according to YOUR presumptious judgmental mind. BTW, I am willing to bet that Miss USA is not an Uncle Tom according to YOUR distorted mind. We Muslims don't think like you Blacks, nor do we have a culture of Uncle Toms like your self-hating shameless race does.

It is clear you did not go to school to learn how to think critically for yourself. You went to learn how broadly paint everyone else to suit your selfish self-centered egoistic mind. You are a pathetic black man.

NSangoma said... ~"Any woman going out in low-cut, tight, short shit; needs to have back-up with her, because that is just the way it is. One should not go around doing stupid shit, just because one has the right to go around doing stupid shit."

Damn man, you sure know a lot about "stupid shit." A degree in scatology, or just "stupid shit"?

It is clear you did not go to school to learn how to think critically for yourself. You went to learn how broadly paint everyone else to suit your selfish self-centered egoistic mind.anon

now that is the problem with the educational system today they want to brainwash the children to think a certain way and if they deviate then they are bigots! but lac may have a point with the girls motivation to come out against the mosque at the 911 site, she has to represent americans and their collective will the sad thing is that most americans do feel odd about this whole thing and that just shows that weve been effectively brainwashed to hate people based upon their religion thats sad then again eye dont think integrity is a prerequisite to be miss usa...

So he wasn't a junior. He had a kid. Let's use some uncommon common sense and spare the baby daddy glorified histrionics.

If you have a kid, and you're in school and you're supposedly supporting adequately said kid, YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO PARTY. It's not your birthday or new years eve? No! I'm sorry, but if he can afford those sun glasses he worked for, while being a star athlete, that child better have ALL of his insurance money...wait, typically responsible people purchase those things.

I'll repeat it again for you. CLUBBING is not a priority when you have a kid. RESPONSIBLE parents, don't often get to just GO OUT! Especially when full time star student athletes.

Sorry, only pity for the baby. The shooter was scum; that goes without saying. But use some common sense or logic before throwing that "Nah hah! You don't know that." Excuses like that is why black people are in such a messed up state. Only the gullible believe that sainthood story being told.

"now that is the problem with the educational system today they want to brainwash the children to think a certain way and if they deviate then they are bigots! but lac may have a point with the girls motivation to come out against the mosque at the 911 site, she has to represent americans and their collective will the sad thing is that most americans do feel odd about this whole thing and that just shows that weve been effectively brainwashed to hate people based upon their religion thats sad then again eye dont think integrity is a prerequisite to be miss usa..."

You and LAC must be relatives. You both know Miss USA so well that you can tell everyone what she thinks, and why she said what she said, but actually believes something else-which corresponds to your way of thinking. Yep. You and LAC ALSO missed a good education in critical thinking.

"Goodness, you are unmerciful in your judgment of Blacks. However, everything you have said is true. How do you know so much about them? just curious."

I've notice that those who seem to be disparaging and unmerciful in their criticism of Blacks tend to be unmercifully critical of their own failings or lack of motivation. These are the same people who chafe when they see a Black person ride by in a new Benz while they are still pushing a 20 year old Ford around. These same people tend to believe that THEY are the ones entitled to have nice things, while the only things that Blacks are entitled to is validating the superiority of the average White person while living a life of ignoble servitude.

I do recognize that Slappy is CF's stand in (for how long is the real question). I trust the Fields will deal with him as they dealt with CF.

These are the same people who chafe when they see a Black person ride by in a new Benz while they are still pushing a 20 year old Ford around.

Ah. Another example mind-reading by blacks. How do you detect this "chafing"? Do you see into the white person's head? Or does this aggrieved white person shout it out? Or what?

These same people tend to believe that THEY are the ones entitled to have nice things, while the only things that Blacks are entitled to is validating the superiority of the average White person while living a life of ignoble servitude.

Ah. More mind-reading. Here's a point for you. The only place these thoughts are found is YOUR mind. And the minds of other blacks who repeat this claim, which seems to happen in mantra-like fashion.

Meanwhile, I've always thought the Hummer was associated with white car buyers while the Cadillac Escalade was favored mostly by blacks.

In any case, I'd like to know the default rate on car loans broken down by race and vehicle.

Something tells me the Repo Man finds much of his work among black car buyers.

@Smashed:Nobody in their right mind wrote that the slain student was a saint. But nobody in their right mind speaks authoritatively about the particular circumstances of this young man's life unless they happen to have been a parent, spouse, mother of his child or close friend/family member, which likely eliminates everyone on the blog.

And I'm sorry but parents do socialize just like everyone else. Their particular circumstances may vary widely. You have no clue if he was out partying every night or if this was the first time he'd been out in a long time. You just don't know. The fact remains that you simply don't have any idea about the victim's financial situation, arrangements made for his child or how that child will live. So at the very least you should find out what's going on before you make assertions of fact. And rushing to speak with anger about the victim of the crime as opposed to the criminal shows some rather warped values.

They were standing in the parking lot of St. Cecilia's gym, the college coach and his former player. Darryle Miller smiled when he flipped open his phone to show photos of his baby daughter. But something was bothering him.

"Right before he left," Rodney Martin recalled, "he turned and said, 'Coach, you gotta help me get out of this place. They're just killing people up here.' "

Three weeks later, Darryle was dead.

They're just killing people up here. Miller, 20, was leaving a Detroit club early last Sunday morning when someone stopped him. Someone apparently wanted his sunglasses. Someone shot him in the back.

Police are investigating. But you already know the story. A confrontation. A bullet. Another son of the city dies. That's the story. A Detroit story. A too familiar story.

Sunglasses?

Miller was a basketball star at Northwestern High, a 6-foot-6 swingman who did a lot by doing a little of everything: shoot, defend, rebound. "I watched him play three games in one Saturday during summer league," Martin recalled. "That night, we offered him a scholarship."

Miller joined Martin at Tiffin University in northern Ohio, a nice NCAA Division II campus by the Sandusky River. By certain Detroit standards, Miller was a success story. He made it out.

But Martin left Tiffin in 2009, and Miller, a loyal kid, said if his coach left, he was leaving, too. Martin hooked on with Bethune-Cookman University in Florida. He was trying to get Miller a spot there or elsewhere. Coach, you gotta help me get out of this place.

It didn't happen fast enough.Another mother cries.

Much has been made over the sunglasses Miller wore. Supposedly they were high-end Cartier shades, a hot item on the streets, rumored to cost as much as $2,400.

Maybe they cost that much. Maybe they were knockoffs. Whatever. In the aftermath, some people have angrily questioned what a guy like that was doing with sunglasses like those.

Wearing them, that's what. He didn't steal them. He paid for them. And while it might be a silly or irresponsible use of money, if you think that earns him a bullet in the back, there is something perverse in your calculations.

1. I spent the majority of the year I was 20 pregnant and had my daughter a few weeks after I turned 21.

2. Black always comes last in this country. Period.

3. You can go to a club if you're 20, you just may not be able to consume alcohol. There is nothing wrong with young people- even young parents, provided their children are sufficiently cared for- socializing in a club.

Hi my name is latoreya darryle is my brother i have read every comment n nothing bring more tears to my eyes then to see so many people blame someone for having success And the put down of my mother n his father they raised a wonderful man n if u had a chance to meet him u would have loved him just as much as we do i simply don't have time to comment on some of these comments DARRYLE HEART WAS AS GOOD AS GOOD N IF U ASKED HIM HE WOULD HAVE GAVE TO U no matter how we spend our money on whatever we spend it on if we can tell u the price tag means that the money was nothing we asked the community for help to find his killer not to down grace every aspect of someone's life life its foul n the next u think about judging someone look at u n your family

TWEET ME

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